Day nine on Rhodes

 

What a full day. We hired a car and went first of all to The Valley of Butterflies. My wife waited in the car having no interest in seeing it, but it was amazing. We went right to the top, out of the valley into the heat where I became the Lord of Flies.

After this, it was a long anticipated drive to Lindos where my son and I climbed up to see the acropolis. What an amazing place but doing so did tire me out, hence me going to bed early now. I am surprised that he had so much energy, but he has rested a lot more than me.

Day eight on Rhodes

 Another day doing nothing. A downside is that the WiFi is down most of the time in our room, but I have increased the data available for my son. My daughter has her own data but they do use my iPhone as a hot spot. I did bring this up with the hotel staff yesterday but they were not too helpful. 

Tomorrow we are planning to go for a drive, tonight my wife has seen how the French dance in unison.

Day seven on Rhodes

 I thought that the French lived so long because they were miserable. That is a poor joke based on an incorrect stereotype. It has been thought that they love long because of their diet. I think it is the exercise that they do. 

Last night, the reps put on an a brilliant and very energetic show and then got us all to dance. The number of dances that a French person seems to know is amazing. And they all appear to know the moves. Anyone who says that white people cannot dance has not seen the French dance. They put us to shame but it was still a fantastic night and my daughter and I are looking forwards to seeing what is happening tonight.

Today, was another relaxing day at the pool, and for my wife and daughter, at the beach. We now have a guide book and will look at exploring the island in our last week on it. I have just come back from a walk with my daughter on the beach where we found an interesting dead fish that appeared to have been killed by the rocks it was swimming in. Just need to find out what it is.

The song on the video is the music that they have played every night, again one with dance moves to it, at least with the reps who teach it to children before the main event which starts at 2130 every night. 

Day six on Rhodes

Yesterday I taught my son how to gamble. It was casino night at the hotel, the gambling being for free tokens. My son was with me as I played Blackjack, though the rules were slightly different as it was not as biased in favour of the house.

We had fun and had enough tokens at the end to bid in the auction where we won a 10% voucher in the gift shop. However my wife and daughter explained that the costs are so high in it, they doubt that they will use it! 

My wife swam with my daughter and I in the sea and this is probably something that we will do for the rest of the holiday. We also found out a bit more about trips on the island. Anyway my daughter and I are contemplating seeing what the entertainment is tonight…

Day five on Rhodes

Today we went to Rhodes itself. It is a distance from the hotel but it was lovely to walk about the historic streets. We had lunch there and when the family went back to the hotel, I continued to explore. I was hoping to find out about the knights of the island, but I may have to come back at a later time to find out more about this. 

Day four in Rhodes

 

Last night we went to the evening entertainment. My son went back to the room which in hindsight was the wise choice as most of it was in French. It makes sense as there are a large number of French people here, and they did explain what was happening in English as well. Sadly we returned to our room before the entertainment was fully underway due to a drink mishap and soaking clothes. My daughter and I returned later to dance in the disco. And I have just been complemented on my dancing last night by a barman. 

Come the morning, after breakfast my son and I walked to a nearby supermarket where we bought some replacement footwear for my daughter and some painkillers at a nearby chemist. 

We relaxed for the rest of the day, my son and I playing a few games that got a bit vicious in the pool. I may get to dance again tonight and tomorrow we are thinking about getting a taxi into the town of Rhodes itself. 

Why are we abandoning refugees from Afghanistan?

I am proud of the way our nation took in Ukrainian refugees, many of whom were in safe nations such as Moldova. I do not know why we do not do the same with refugees from Afghanistan or other nations riven by war, such as Yemen. 

We know that many of those who died in The Channel this month were from Afghanistan and that two years on from the Taliban taking over Afghanistan, we are still failing those Afghans who helped our forces when we were trying to bring human rights to the nation.

We have been offered a way to stop the boats back in 2021 when France said we could process asylum seekers there. Doing so in a speedy manner would reduce channel crossings, slash the bills housing them in hotels and end any need for any barges. Also, having a fair and speedy system in France would mean that there are few moral issues to deporting those crossing the channel to Rwanda.

We are not a soft touch for refugees. When there was the migrant caravan in 2015, most refugees went to Germany and Sweden. France has more refugees than the UK. So when Lee Anderson says that asylum seekers can “fuck off back to France” does he include Ukrainian ones?